When deciding where to invest, spreading your money around increases the chance you’ll pick a winner, and limits your losses if you pick a loser.

In the same way, the wealthiest Americans often diversify their investments in the presidential candidates to increase the chances they’ll be a part of to the winning candidate’s victory.

Through the end of the third quarter, more than 1,000 people have given $200 or more to multiple top-tier candidates, and 533 of those individuals have given the legal maximum amount of $2,500 to at least one candidate, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Individual donors can give political candidates $2,500 per election. But the primary election counts as a separate election from the general election. So this means that a donor can give $5,000 to a candidate all at once. (If that candidate were to lose the primary, the second $2,500 donation would be required to be refunded.)

The donors who gave to more than one presidential candidate diversified using many different investment strategies. Some gave along ideological lines, others spread their money widely. But the most popular strategy among these presidential investors seems to be a calculated bet.

Through the end of September, a total of 197 people donated at least $2,500 to either former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or Texas Gov. Rick Perry and at least $200 to the other, according to research by the Center.

That is more than any other combination among the GOP presidential hopefuls and perhaps indicates that these deep-pocketed donors are betting that the two biggest fund-raisers among the Republican field are the most likely to win the nomination.

The Romney-Perry combination is also the most popular among those donors who gave $200 or more to at least two top-tier presidential candidates, according to the Center’s research, with 261 doing so.

Here is a table showing all of the overlap between donors who gave at least $200 to a major presidential candidate, including any of the nine main Republican candidates and President Barack Obama.

Jones and his wife, Gene, each gave $2,500 to Romney in May, when Romney was the clear front-runner. Then, in late September, the Joneses each gave $2,500 to fellow Texan Perry, who entered the race far later than Romney. (Like Romney, Perry has also been a prolific fund-raiser during the first months of his campaign.)

Some large donors have taken a different approach in their presidential investments.

Many, such as Michael G. Rubin of Pennsylvania, seem to have diversified along ideological lines.

Rubin, the chief executive of an Internet commerce company, has given $5,000 to President Barack Obama, a Democrat, as well as $5,000 to Romney and $2,500 to former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. Romney and Huntsman are often considered the two most moderate of the Republican candidates.

Rubin is not alone in this strategy.

The Romney-Huntsman combination has been the second most popular combination of presidential donors, according to the Center’s research, as 118 donors have given at least $200 to both campaigns, including 77 of those who have given at least $2,500 to at least one of the two men.

A third strategy, exemplified by Louisiana retiree Ray Oden, is to truly spread your bets.

Oden has given $16,500 to presidential candidates thus far, more than any other donor, according to the Center’s research, and he has spread it around.

According to the Center’s research, 88 donors have given at least $200 to both Obama and one of the GOP presidential candidates.

Of these 88 people who gave to Obama and another candidate, only one person gave to him and Bachmann, and just one gave to both him and Gingrich.

Meanwhile, two donors gave to both Huntsman and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), despite little political common ground between the two Republicans.

On the whole, more double-dipping presidential investors gave to Romney than any other candidate.

A total of 616 people gave to his campaign as well as that of another candidate, according to the Center’s research.

And for five of the presidential candidates who received at least $200 from a donor who also gave to another candidate, Romney was the most common “other candidate.”

Romney was frequently the “other” choice for many big-money donors from Texas.

Many well-known Texans gave only to Perry and Romney, including: former Secretary of State James Baker, former House Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and former Dallas Cowboys star Roger Staubach.

The only candidates who did not have at least a single double-dipping investor in common were Obama and Santorum.

There were several instances of candidates having only one or two donors in common, including Bachmann and Obama; Santorum and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson; Obama and Gingrich; and Johnson and Gingrich.

The candidates to receive the fewest contributions from double-dipping donors was Santorum, who had only 52 donors give to him and another candidate.

Media Contact

Viveca Novak
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